Australia travel advice

bulb66 · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:28

Hi everyone,

In a little over 9 weeks i'll be flying to Perth Australia from 3 months and was hoping the OcUK forum might be able to offer some advice.

This is the first long haul flight I've been on since i was 9 (now 29) and to be honest i don't remember any of the last one. I should say that as this is a one off trip (Just visiting friends, but it's a long way to make it a regular trip) as such i'm flying business class and very much looking forward to it.

What i'm looking for advise on is money, sightseeing, transport etc.

So Money, What is the best way to take/spend money over there? How much should i take?

Sightseeing, What are some must sees in Perth and can you suggest somewhere to take a trip to in the rest of Australia?

Transport, whats the best way to get around Perth and between other city's?

And any other advice or suggestions for me?

Thanks

James

TommyV · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:45

If you want any advice on the east coast (cairns > sydney) feel free to throw me a message in trust mate.

xxalxx · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:45

I'm off to bed now, but I will try and give you some pointers tomorrow

bulb66 · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:48

Thanks TommyV have looked at your blog and am going to do my own to. I'll get back to you with some questions thanks.

Thanks

Glaucus · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:48

Money, take shed loads its expensive. £7 a pint that's pretty much best price outside some youth hostel happy hours.

Don't book anything up, maybe a night or two when you first get there.
Do youth hostels, and go with the flow. Meet up with people in the youths tells and take it from there.

Don't even look at the rest of Aus, it's to big a place, I went for 4 weeks and even doing the west coast was a push. Perth-broome

You have to go stay on rot nest island. It's dirt cheap, great bakery with custard slices and pies and even better snorkelling, even though they thought I was amd as it was their winter, it was still high 20s.

Transport inside Perth is absolutely fantastic and extends about iirc ~80km south of the very centre and slightly less to the noth. Outside of that, public transport just doesn't exist, not even taxis.

bulb66 · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:50

I should say for the most part i'll be staying with friends to the bulk of accommodation will be sorted.

StevieP · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:51

I've only been to Sydney but I can wholeheartedly recommend seeing the Blue Mountains - far and away the best scenery I've ever seen - puts the Grand Canyon to shame imo!

Glaucus · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:54

bulb66 said:
I should say for the most part i'll be staying with friends to the bulk of accommodation will be sorted.

You will miss out on so much doing it that way.

I also did the 10 day Perth - broome, which was great fun
http://www.adventuretours.com.au/western-australia/perth-to-broome-budget

Met some great people, especially the Irish, had some amazing **** ups and a great time.

A few shots from rottnest island, well middle one was from somewhere else. But amazing snorkelling along west coast.

In fact this is what I posted when I got back

Glaucus said:
Glaucus said:

Absolutely ***** amazing.
Australia is such a nice country or at least the west side.
So friendly, clean and crime free, especially anti social behaviour.
Absolutely fell in love with snorkelling.
And backpacking tours are awesome, stunning way to do a Holliday on your own. Meat some great people and have an absolute blast.

However it was insanely expensive £7 a pint £3 for a 600ml bottle of coke, £15+ for burger and chips at a pub.
Public transport in Perth however is amazing and stupidly cheap and large.
Went 80km south of Perth for the wedding on a day ticket which was about £4.

The backpackers tour was Perth to Broome which is most of the west coast and stopped at the important places.
Was not impressed at all with monkey Mia and felt sorry for the dolphins and didn't enjoy the experience at all.
Karajini national park was absolutely amazing, wish I was fitter, would love to go back and do the level 6+ gorges, which require abseiling, canning and the like.
Broome was a nice beach town with a party atmosphere and was a great place to get messy after several days in the outback.
Pinnacles was nice to see, but pretty boring.
Coral beach was spectacular, sunset picture.
Ningaloo reef was stunning, so much sea life (close up picture of fish)

At the end I went to rottnest island for a week on my own, dirt cheap accommodation. Again snorkelling was amazing and teaming with sea life. Stick your head under the water and you'll see fish straight away. The ray? Pic and the quokka pic (so qute)

Perth was a lovely place, was amazed how popular small breweries are in Australia and little creatures was a popular one in Freemantle, went there three times in first week. Don't go to Scaraborough it's where all the chavs go. Only stayed their one night and it was pants.
Freemantle is a lovely place and hillarys harbours is posh and nice to go one evening. North ridge won for me amazing multiculturalism and entertainment. Big tv all year round in one little corner park. It's the diverse, young hippie area.

However if I was doing long flights again 20+ hours I would have a stop over. 11hr flight was fine but then another 9-10hr flight afterwards was a killer and on the way back 9hrs in the airport. I would also spend the extra and fly with Quantas. Thai airlines is cheap for a reason, but it should be more than £150 less.

Click to expand...

Oh and Whitchs hat is a great hostel http://www.witchs-hat.com/

Jobe · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:04

TommyV said:
If you want any advice on the east coast (cairns > sydney) feel free to throw me a message in trust mate.

Hey Tommy.

I've sent you a message. Hope you don't mind.

Jb

TommyV · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:09

bulb66 said:
Thanks TommyV have looked at your blog and am going to do my own to. I'll get back to you with some questions thanks.

Thanks xxalxx

Good point, I shoulda just said check the blog

Although there are no pics there, will do it eventually

[TW]Fox · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:13

TommyV said:
If you want any advice on the east coast (cairns > sydney) feel free to throw me a message in trust mate.

Surely its better he asks here and you reply here - then others can benefit from your experiences, too.

[TW]Fox · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:15

bulb66 said:
So Money, What is the best way to take/spend money over there? How much should i take?

Apply for a Halifax Clarity credit card. Use it for all purchases and ATM withdrawls. It will be a better deal than using prepaid passport cards, or changing money at a bureau de change. It's also more secure and more convenient.

Transport, whats the best way to get around Perth and between other city's?

Perth is the only city of any reasonable size on the West Coast. It is the most isolated city on the planet and closer to Singapore than it is to the capital of Australia.

So, if you want to see the other big cities, fly.

PondPikey · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:32

Only commenting on this thread cos I'm jealous. Amazing place and amazing things to see and do. My top 5 would be.

Cairns
Port Douglas
Atherton Tablelands
Sailing on a tall ship in the Whitsundays
Art galleries in Brisbane.

Also read some history. It's so recent you can touch it.

Enjoy it!

kefkef · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:42

Just for laughs you've got to have a beer in "The Lucky Shag" bar off Riverside Drive (it's actually a good night out too on a weekend). If there's cricket on go spend the day there it's a good day out with a few mates. Rot Ness is a good trip, make sure you book as turning up on the day is quite risky. Margaret River wine trips are a good day out. A picnic in Kings Park can be nice. Cottesloe Beach is a cool place, I would expect you'll spend a few days at the bech, so make sure you try them all out for all the gorgeous "scenery"

A flight to Sydney shouldn't cost the earth and worth it to at least see the tourist bit there.

Glaucus · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:45

Talking of beer, you have to go to little creatures in Fremantle (south Perth)

https://littlecreatures.com.au/

If you get up to broome, Masto's is a must and ask for a Chango.

xxalxx · 23 Jan 2013 at 06:08

As everyone has said, WA is absolutely huge (20 * the size of England iirc) and if you are going anywhere north of Geraldton flying is a must otherwise you will spend the majority of your trip here driving.

Whereabouts are you staying?

Get yourself out of the city for part of your visit - camping is really popular and fun here (http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/campgrounds/)

Money wise - Perth is very expensive at the moment for visitors, the $ is very strong against the ukp ($1.50 to 1 ukp today) though for people earning $$$'s its fine

. Mains are around $20 each at the pub, drinks can be expensive though - at the Lucky Shag Bar for 2 mains and 2 drinks its around $60, though unless your friends live in the city expect to spend a lot of time drinking and eating snags in someones garden

.

You have to visit Rottnest, and the time you are coming is just right for it as the sea will be ideal (its actually a bit cold until Feb onwards), heat wise it will still be ferocious make sure you buy a big tub of sun cream when you get here.

More later ...

TommyV · 23 Jan 2013 at 08:54

[TW]Fox;23612691 said:
Surely its better he asks here and you reply here - then others can benefit from your experiences, too.

People are very critical on here, I'd rather have a private conversation with him.

[TW]Fox · 23 Jan 2013 at 09:41

A community doesn't work if everyone does that. Something like travel experiences have broad appeal and its great to share your experiences to give others ideas or prompt similar experiences from others.

[FnG]magnolia · 23 Jan 2013 at 09:49

Fox makes a good point TommyV. It's a long way for most people to go and any tips, advice and experiences you have would probably be gratefully received by many others, not just the OP .

trojan698 · 23 Jan 2013 at 10:51

Go scuba diving and take condoms.